Work lights which need to be held in an operator's hands are well known, and are commonly called flashlights. Unfortunately, the basic requirement that such lights be held by the operator, and thus occupying use of one of the user's hands is a significant detriment, especially when the user needs to keep both hands free.
Lamps which do not have to be held in a user's hands, but are carried upon a user's body by means of belts, or other apparatus are also known, and are frequently in the form of headlamps which may be releasably secured to a user's head by means of elastic straps, or alternatively fixedly attached to a hat, or helmet worn by a user, such as in the case of underground miners.
Headlamps present a problem in that they are difficult to attach in a non-slip manner if they are worn over a hat or cap, or the like. Because of their mass headlamps may also slip or move in the case of sudden movements of the head. Moreover, the tension of the forehead strap and the weight of the headlamp may cause the wearer to develop a headache, or neck ache. Further, the donning of such a headlamp requires specific concerted action by the user. Since headlamps are worn on a wearer's head, the light beam of the lamp always follows the movement of the wearer's head. However, it is this very feature of headlamps that is disadvantageous during various activities.
Headlamps are also disadvantageous when two or more persons are talking to each other because the headlamps may blind the other person if the two people are facing one another. Similarly, most headlamps are “spotlight” type apparatus that focus the illumination into a narrow beam that is concentrated on a single spot, rather than widely dispersing the light across a wider area with lower intensity.
The present invention provides a low intensity work light wherein illumination is distributed over a wide area, with low intensity, and at a level vertically below a user's eyes such that the illumination does not blind others, is not a spotlight, and still provides sufficient illumination to locate items, and improve night vision.
One characteristic of known lamps that is particularly disadvantageous in law enforcement, is that wearing a body mounted high intensity light, allows perpetrators of crimes, criminals, and the like who might seek to avoid capture and to harm law enforcement officers to clearly identify the law enforcement officer from a distance in the dark. High intensity body worn lights therefore provide a “target” to which a criminal or other perpetrator of crime might use to target a law enforcement officer with a firearm, or the like. Therefore, there is a significant safety risk in law enforcement officers wearing high intensity body mounted light sources.
The instant invention overcomes various of these drawbacks while providing an apparatus that assists with night vision and performance of duties and work.